802.11n Wi-Fi Seeing Bright Opportunity in Higher Education Market

(Business News & Technology News, 7 Aug 2008)

Wi-Fi will be available in 99 percent of North American universities in 2013, according to market research firm ABI Research. Much of that penetration will be in the form of 802.11n equipment, making the higher education segment one of the top markets for early adopters of 802.11n.

According to ABI Research Vice President Stan Schatt, 802.11n uptake—which is today fairly small in the education market—will ramp up steeply to quite a high rate of penetration.

There are several reasons for this. Many students now assume a campus Wi-Fi network as a given, and many of their shiny new laptops will be "n"-compatible. Universities have great bandwidth demands, as lecture halls may need to serve a large number of users with multimedia content at any given time. 802.11n's greater speed and capacity can address that need.

Moreover, says Schatt, universities are breaking new ground by using video over Wi-Fi in a number innovative ways. This is driving the adoption of high speed 802.11n. Students in the near future (at least the diligent ones) will be just as likely to watch their favorite professor's lectures on their laptops as they will be to view "America's Next Top Model".

In an interesting twist, educational institutions with limited funds are jumping to 802.11n to "future-proof" their networks, rather than purchasing an 802.11g Wi-Fi network now and coming back in a year or two seeking funds for an upgrade to 802.11n.

However, a few barriers to adoption do still exist. Some institutions are concerned about the impact of 802.11n's increased bandwidth on the wired side of their infrastructure. Some have limited budgets, and some—particularly those with less emphasis on research—may be conservatively inclined to wait for confirmation of the 802.11n standard before taking the plunge.

Click here for more information on the report "There¡¯s IEEE 802.11n Gold in Higher Education" by ABI Research

Click here for more information on ABI Research